“You don’t want your ex to get someone” – Former Super Bowl Winner Speculates Feeling of Tom Brady on Cam Newton Signing for the Patriot

It’s a public secret now that former NFL MVP Cam Newton has signed for New England Patriots. His contract will be valid for a year before his team decides whether to retain him beyond the 2020-21 season. But before that, a storm of controversy swept across the football community. It’s related to Sports Illustrated’s (SI) report that claims Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady would ultimately be a loser as a result of Newton’s signing.

Tom Brady a loser: Really?

The report claims that Brady would be one of the unhappy men because his former club has signed the 31-year old 2010 Heisman Trophy winner.

The report in SI states, “There is an emotional component of every quarterback that makes them want to be missed when they are gone. Oddly, the three quarterbacks typically revered as the greatest of all time—Brady, Joe Montana and Brett Favre—did not have that luxury right away. Because of the cache of their replacements, it took time for perspective to solidify. Montana was consistently nipped and eventually replaced by the great Steve Young and Brady will now be theoretically swapped for 2015 MVP Cam Newton.”

It’s indeed understandable and quite natural for any footballer to have a desire of being missed at the club where he spent so many years. For Brady, it was 20 long years with the Patriots. Amid such an emotional journey, it was quite an unexpected event for the six-time Super Bowl winner to move to a new team at the twilight of his career.

“You want to see your ex struggle”

In the TV show “Undisputed: Skip and Shannon”, former Denver Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe spoke of the report. He said, “If you break up with somebody, you don’t want them to get anybody more successful than you. You don’t want your ex to get someone, you don’t want her to level up. You want them to struggle, you are like.. ‘yeah, you thought you are gonna do better, but here, look at you…’, you don’t want to see them (New England Patriots) make the playoffs, you want them to struggle.”

As per Sharpe, Tom Brady would want the same for the New England Patriots. He might want them and the Patriots’ fans to feel his absence. He would definitely not want the club supporters to forget him all of a sudden.

Can Cam Newton truly replace Brady?

With Cam Newton’s signing, Sharpe feels that Patriots might just move on from their memories with Brady. However, it’s really not practical for fans to forget a player who has won the most number of Super Bowls, all with the Patriots.

There comes a time in every legend’s life when they must move on, but that doesn’t necessarily mean leaving behind everything and living in isolation. It’s understandable that when Brady steps on the field wearing Buccaneers’ colors against his former club, Patriots’ fans might not support him. But at the end of the day, no one can deny Brady’s contributions to the club. He will still be considered one of the greatest players the New England Patriots have ever been with.